by <unknown>
This was the wake-up call.
As if something had occurred to him, Boris suddenly looked utterly disheartened. Instead of opening the door, he staggered back to the bed and pressed a red emergency button next to him.
"Hello Captain Boris, this is the artificial intelligence system no. X2532, codenamed Anna. How may I be of service?"
A cold mechanical female voice came from the overhead speakers.
"… I'm requesting isolation."
Boris twitched his lips and finally said, "I have some kind of abnormal infection and need to be quarantined urgently. The living area of the North Sea Continent also needs to be quarantined…"
"Received. I'll report your request, please stay calm…"
Immediately, the green light in front of the gates of the North Sea Continent task force's living area flashed, turning from green to red in an instant. At the same time, all the gates emitted a clicking sound, which was the sound of the airlock closing. In an instant, the living area on the North Sea Continent became a quarantine area.
Meanwhile, a harsh siren resounded over the entire base!
…
"Infection?"
Almost at the same time, on the two scientific research ships, many researchers immediately received the news. The bald researcher immediately walked to the big screen. With a wave of his hand, the screen displayed a cramped row of camera footage.
"At present, only one sign of infection has been found. The sign occurred in the living area of the East Crow task force. The situation may be somewhat serious."
A researcher beside reported to the bald researcher.
The bald researcher looked at the information sent to him and immediately issued an order, "Seal off the entire living area at once. Not only the living area of the East Crow task force but all the living areas! At the same time, order the members of the task force who are standing guard at the base to not enter the living areas again, and no one is allowed to return to our reality!"
"All living areas have been sealed off."
Suddenly, a feminine mechanical voice came from inside the cabin. It was the artificial intelligence, Anna. "At present, there are 82 task force soldiers, 35 logistics researchers, 100 androids, and 56 XTN robots in the four major living areas of A, B, C, and D."
"Very good."
The bald researcher tapped on one of the cameras' footage and said, "Display the feed showing the dormitory of Captain Boris of Team East Crow for me."
Following the instruction of the researcher, among the densely packed surveillance feeds on the screen, one of the images was immediately enlarged to cover the others. All of a sudden, everyone saw the terrifying scene —
On the edge of the bed, a man with a sarcoma-filled face was holding a shard of broken mirror, constantly cutting his face. Every time he cut, he would cut off a piece of meat from his face.
Furthermore, perhaps he had gone numb or something, but currently, though he was bleeding all over his face, he looked extremely serene, like a ghost from hell.
Seeing this eerie scene, everyone was stunned.
"Make him stop now. He'll bleed to death if this continues."
The bald researcher frowned, suddenly thought of something, and at the same time commanded, "Anna, send an android and an XTN robot to treat him and also turn on the communications. I want to talk to this captain."
"Understood. The medical robot is on its way and the communications are connected…"
The voice of the intelligent AI Anna continued and the bald man looked at everyone behind him. After everyone was completely silent, he turned his head and looked at the screen again. "Captain Boris, can you hear me?"
"I can…"
The officer suddenly heard this voice and his body shuddered. He quickly looked up and displayed a pleading expression. "I'm infected, come and save me!"
"Captain, please stay calm."
The bald researcher said solemnly, "I'm Professor Will. We've only met recently. Don't worry, the foundation will not give up on any soldier, but now I have a few questions to ask you."
Hearing the words, Boris nodded, his mangled face revealing a hint of joy. "Professor Will, ask away, I'll tell you everything, everything!"
With that expression and the blood on his face, Boris looked a little creepy at this time.
"Very good, then I'll ask."
Professor Will looked stern. "I just checked the test record from when you entered the living area and found that the test report stated, 'No signs of microbial infection found'. What is the reason? Did you use any means to conceal the infection or were you infected after entering the living area? "
"No, neither!"
Hearing this, Boris stood up quickly and he said in alarm, "I didn't conceal it. It did show that I wasn't infected. I don't know why this happened. Save me!"
Hearing that Boris was babbling incoherently, Professor Will continued. "Well, Captain Boris, please relax. We're not blaming you. Then, the next question — are you sure that the infection is due to your arm wound?"
"Wound?"
Boris was taken aback. He realized that after waking up, his entire body was in pain, so he ignored the wound on his arm from yesterday. Thinking of this, he hurriedly pulled away his sleeve to expose his arm!
"Tsss!"
They only saw that the wound on Boris' arm was covered with red sarcomas, which were densely packed like cauliflower or a honeycomb. It turned their scalp numb and they could not look straight at it!
"It seems that we can determine that the infection was indeed from outside the living area…"
Seeing this, Professor Will murmured in a low voice. At this moment, the airlock of Boris' dormitory hissed again and the two XTN robots rushed in directly, and pressed Boris to the ground with overwhelming speed and force!
"Ah, what are you doing, let me go!"
In the video, Boris roared, struggling constantly, and a lot of blood spilled over the entire dormitory room!
Still, after all, humans could not compete with XTN robots. Soon, one of the robots tied Boris' hands behind him and then two more androids came in pushing a negative pressure isolation stretcher. The two robots immediately picked up Boris by his legs and shoulders and shut him completely in the isolation stretcher.
"Anna, isolate him and treat him with all we have! As for the room, directly destroy it after collecting samples!"
Professor Will seemed to be worried and exhorted loudly. He then looked down again at the report of yesterday's encounter in his hand.
The source of infection for Boris, an excellent task force soldier, was that pile of tentacles yesterday.
When Team East Crow got the samples, he had originally wanted the samples shipped to reality for his own study. However, fortunately, this application was rejected by the higher-ups of the foundation. According to what they said, it was best not to bring these alien things back to reality until all their properties were figured out.
Originally, he thought this was just a big fuss and was even rather miffed. After all, this kind of research would be carried out in a level-4 biosafety laboratory and the probability of leakage was not more than one in 100,000.
However, after seeing Boris' outcome now, he only felt a chill run down his spine, and his limbs had gone soft.
Such a terrible thing should go to hell and must not appear in the real world!
Fortunately, fortunately…
This thought flashed in his heart and then Professor Will said again, "Anna, inform Dr. Edward that he should prepare to turn on the VR control setting, then he should personally use the XTN robot to perform surgery on Captain Boris."
"Understood."
Anna answered quickly.
After Boris' rescue was arranged, Professor Will returned his gaze to the living areas again. "Anna, have you found any signs of infection in the four living areas of A, B, C, D?"
"Detecting."
With this answer from the artificial intelligence Anna, the orig
inal surveillance feed of Boris was once again sized down and at the same time, rows of new surveillance footage popped up, showing the task force members of all continents who were sitting around restlessly in the dormitory.
As the entire living area was quarantined, the members of the East Crow task force were all quarantined in the dormitory. Boris was a captain, so he had the privilege of a single dormitory room. However, these squad members had no such thing and they had four people in a small, shared dormitory.
However, following Anna's inspection, Will only saw a red box suddenly appearing on the screen. This box framed the neck of a member of the East Crow task force and then zoomed in continuously with the red box in the center!
Finally, a bright red dot on the neck of the soldier now appeared on the screen!
Immediately, the artificial intelligence swiftly fixed upon this scene and then flipped through the images of the red sarcomas on Boris' body. The two pictures were automatically compared. "Warning, the similarity is 65% and the probability is determined to be 93%! The probability of transmission of this unknown infection is 93%!
"Summary: Living Area A where the East Crow task force is located has been completely contaminated!"
Chapter 501: New Meme |
"How can this be…"
Looking at the data report on the computer screen, a XTN robot with a screen for its head turned around in a human-like gesture. The cartoon face on its screen turned into a corresponding question mark.
Then, the XTN robot hesitantly looked at Captain Boris who was deeply anesthetized, then turned around again and pressed a few buttons on the computer in front of it.
At once, the robot's voice device made that puzzled remark again.
"Impossible…"
The robot was still muttering in a low voice. It looked at the computer but saw that it still showed that the DNA and blood samples collected from Boris were all normal.
There was no DNA mutation and no microbial infection.
The most important thing was that the sample taken from Boris was a cauliflower-like sarcoma with a small hole on it and a drooping tentacle could even be seen in the small hole at this time…
"It's unbelievable!"
In the end, the robot let out a speechless sigh. Its screen face turned into starry eyes as commonly seen in anime. At the same time, it opened its hands and said, "This is not a microbial infection from the other world nor is it any form of parasitism. This is a new form that humans have never seen before!"
"That's enough, Edward…"
Just then, a heavy, resonant voice suddenly came from behind the robot. At this point, the robot turned around while stretching out a hand to touch its eye. After that, it paused and when it resumed action again, it had reverted to the actions of a stiff robot…
In the real world at this time, in the laboratory of a huge ship, a middle-aged man of half-Chinese and half-European descent, who had bushy hair and whose hairline had receded to the back of his head, took off his head-mounted AR brain-control device. He looked at Professor Will standing behind him. "What's the matter, old man?"
"How is the situation?"
Professor Will's mouth twitched slightly but he still asked, "What's the situation? Boris is the leader of the task force and the task force is also the mainstay of the Foundation. Every single person is of incomparable value. I hope you can do your best to treat him."
"Come on…"
Hearing this, the bushy-haired man sneered. "If they wanted to treat him with all they've got, then the Blacklight Fully-automated Medical Platform would already be on its way here, but is there any such thing? Those pigs don't even want to tell the middle level of the Foundation about the Blacklight Fully-automated Medical Platform. Do you even believe in your own words?"
Hearing that, Professor Will's mouth pursed even more but he still kept his cool, and said with a chuckle, "You can't say that. The Blacklight Fully-automated Medical Platform is a strategic machine comparable to 'Adam'. There are only five of them in the world and you can't manufacture more. Naturally, those extremely precious things cannot be taken out. Still, the fact that you've been asked to come here, Edward, also shows that the assembly highly values these task force members…"
"Heh heh heh…"
Even so, after hearing Professor Will's high-sounding words, the man with the bushy hair just laughed humorlessly.
He laughed for more than half a minute, only to find that Professor Will was staring at him with an unamused expression. Then Edward turned solemn and said, "It's impossible. I've tried all methods including radiotherapy and chemotherapy, yet I can't inhibit those 'tumors' outside his body… Let's call it a tumor for now. This is something beyond the known physiological framework of humankind. I can't even find the cause of his appearance because from a physiological perspective, he's completely fine."
"Is that right?"
After hearing this, Professor Will looked somber. "No wonder the microbiological test can't detect it…"
"The only lucky thing now is that we haven't brought them into reality."
The bushy-haired man continued. "We don't know how infectious this disease is or how it's transmitted. If the infection rate reaches the level of a cold, once it appears in reality, humans will be done for because all of our biological knowledge is useless when faced with this!"
After their conversation, Professor Will silently watched Dr. Edward who had put on the AR brain-control device again and started working. He then went to another room full of electronic equipment and restated everything that Dr. Edward had surmised.
The room was full of various known and unknown instruments, and in the center of these instruments was a huge screen. The screen was divided into two parts, one of which showed the various surveillance feeds of Living Area A. Below these feeds, there were five inconspicuous logos of figures with only their upper halves showing.
These five logos were marked with 01, 02, 03, 04, and 05 respectively.
At this time, below the 01 figure, the straight dotted line turned into a wavy line that was constantly fluctuating and at the same time, a processed voice came out. "We've heard your conversation. At present, it seems that the world on the other side of the Rosen bridge is very dangerous."
"Yes."
Immediately, there was also a wavy line below the 03 figure. "05, do you have any suggestions for us?"
"Does this still need to be said?"
The 05 figure laughed in a low voice. "I said a long time ago that, as we human beings developed, behind anything that doesn't seem too complicated, there may be a crisis of extinction facing mankind. This is the reason for my firm request not to bring the sample back to reality."
"You're right."
01 was silent for a while, then said, "It seems that the establishment of the foundation was indeed not making a mountain out of a molehill. If this foundation were not around, I'm afraid it wouldn't have been the task force that entered the other world, but the armies of all continents. And it's very likely that that special 'infectious disease' would've also been brought to Earth."
"Then let us establish a continent-level organization to liaise with the foundation as soon as possible."
05 proposed.
"Agreed."
01 spoke up.
"Seconded."
"Seconded."
"Seconded…"
All the tiny figures spoke in unison, reaching a decision swiftly.
"Then the question now is, could this infectious disease be…"
At this moment, 03 suddenly spoke again with hesitation in his tone, "Could it be… 'That'?"
However, the expected answer did not come and all the figures fell into silence.
After half a minute had passed, 05 spoke again, his voice was low and rather heavy, "Based on the information currently known, it's certain… Yes, it's the same thing as the 'Weeping Angel' and 'This Man', and more lethal."
"So, is there a solution in the legacy left by 'that person'?"
>
03 asked again.
"I'm very sorry to say that there isn't."
"…"
After saying that last sentence, the 05 figure changed from black to gray, apparently having gone offline.
Seeing this, the other figures also turned gray and finally, only 03 remained online.
"Professor Will."
03 suddenly said.
"Sir."
Hearing the other party calling him, Will stood up. "May I ask what your orders are?"
"I don't have an order but you should be as careful as possible."
03 said, "Now the situation is very clear. What you have to do is to instruct everyone to figure out everything about this infectious disease. Even if you can't figure out its pathogenesis, but at least the mode of infection, the infection process, the incubation period, and the outbreak period — these must all be figured out and we must come up with corresponding plans for these.
"For example, if this infectious disease spreads to the entire task force, what should we do? If the infectious disease accidentally spreads to reality, how should we defend against it and block it off? You must prepare for these."
"Understood!"
Professor Will nodded his head seriously. "This is my duty and also the duty of our foundation."
"Very good. I'll leave it to you."
Hearing Professor Will's assurance, the 03 figure finally turned gray and was completely disconnected.
"Phew…"
Seeing that everyone had left, Professor Will was slightly relieved. The amount of information revealed in the previous conversation was so mind-blowing that he did not even dare to breathe.
Still, his position was of sufficiently high clearance and they did not try to hide things from him, so he picked up on a lot of clues.
For example, "This Man" and "Weeping Angel". As far as he knew, these two names were two catastrophic events that had occurred in Northern America. Among them, the This Man incident caused social chaos in Northern America. The collapse of financial and religious systems had caused losses amounting to trillions of dollars in Northern America.
The other Weeping Angel incident triggered a disaster in Los Angeles. About a thousand people died in this disaster and he heard that one army was wiped out.
